Mitch Fifield

Biography

Senator the Hon Mitch Fifield was sworn in as Senator for Victoria in the Australian Parliament on 1 April 2004 and re-elected at the 2007, 2013 and 2016 elections.

Mitch was first appointed as the Minister for Communications and Minister for the Arts on 21 September 2015, and reappointed on 19 July 2016.

Mitch also serves as a member of the Prime Minister's Leadership Group and the Senate leadership team, as Manager of Government Business in the Senate.

Senator Fifield previously served in the social services portfolio as minister for disabilities and ageing.

Before entering Parliament, Mitch worked as a senior political adviser to the former Federal Treasurer, Peter Costello, and held senior advisory positions in the Victorian Kennett and New South Wales Greiner governments. Mitch has served as a reservist in the Australian Army Psychology Corps and studied politics at Sydney University.

Mitch was an Ambassador for the not-for-profit school music organisation The Song Room and was an Advisory Board Member for the Yachad Accelerated Learning Project for indigenous students. Mitch was a founding director and is the current chair of the Sir Paul Hasluck Foundation.

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NBN charging ahead with more users on higher speeds

The Morrison Government has welcomed the news of almost 4.5 million premises on an NBN service, with 50Mbps plans accounting for just under 50 per cent of all residential connections.

The ACCC quarterly NBN Wholesale Market Indicators Report released today also showed more than 2.2 million consumers were now on these high-speed plans, an increase of 20 per cent on the previous quarter.

The 1.8 million premises on the 50Mbps speed tier is a ten-fold increase compared to about 159,000 residential customers on 50Mbps plans in December 2017.

The ACCC's figures are further vindication of the Coalition's Multi-Technology Mix approach to the NBN rollout, which will see the network completed out 6-8 years sooner and at $30 billion less cost to the taxpayer.

Minister for Communications Mitch Fifield said the NBN was striking a balance between meeting the needs of customers and improving the experience on the network.

“Today's news reinforces that consumers are embracing the NBN in droves,” he said

“The figures from the ACCC show that NBN's new pricing strategy is working, with retailers moving customers onto plans that reflect the true potential of the NBN and lead to a much better customer experience.”

In addition, NBN Co's network traffic data shows monthly average household downloads surging 30 per cent in the past year, from 163GB a month to 213GB a month.

The ACCC's figures are on the back of more good news on the NBN. As a result of measures introduced by Government and NBN Co:

Average network congestion has plummeted from around 5 hours a week in July 2017 to just 38 minutes a week;

97 per cent of homes and businesses are being connected within NBN Co's agreed timeframes.

94 per cent of homes and businesses are now connected right the first time, up from 86 per cent a year ago.